Old

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I wonder if they are trying to say that Uncle Dracula is old.

Vampire Bat: Everybody knows that he is very old.

Vampire Owl: But nobody ever dares to mention that.

Vampire Bat: Why should they keep mentioning that when it is well-known?

Vampire Owl: There might be vampire apprentices who wish to know.

Vampire Bat: They are have joined as vampire apprentices because they know.

Vampire Owl: They still don’t know enough, do they?

Vampire Bat: Well, you can’t expect them to know that much until they reach the next level.

Vampire Owl: You know that Uncle Dracula is planning to dismiss those partial vampires before reaching the next level, so that he doesn’t have to give them a bigger salary.

Vampire Bat: It is expected from the oldest miser in the realm. His habit goes back by so many centuries and vampire resurrections.

[Gets a green apple cake and three cups of mint tea].

What is the movie about? :: Guy Cappa (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca Cappa (Vicky Krieps) are going through a situation which makes a divorce on the way. They decide to go on a vacation with their children Maddox Cappa (Thomasin McKenzie and Embeth Davidtz) and Trent Cappa (Alex Wolff and Emun Elliott) for the one last time, and then talk to them about the upcoming separation. Prisca does seem to have a medical condition, but is adamant about the divorce. The family is treated very well at the beach resort which they visit, and the children are really happy to be there, despite having to listen to their parents shouting at each other regularly. The next morning, the manager of the resort invites the family to a beach located further away, where not many people goes. They are taken to the area with a few others, who also join them on the journey. The others are also really happy to be there, as it seems like a really beautiful area, with no rush at all, a world where they could actually do whatever they wanted.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: But the place doesn’t seem to be that serene as they had thought earlier, and earlier told by the van driver (M Night Shyamalan), who is not ready to come to the beach with them, even though the tourists surely need some help. They find a fully naked woman (Alejandra Useche) in the sea, and they soon realize that it is a dead body. Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant), who is oldest member of the group dies, and the children quickly turn into teenagers, making them difficult to recognize even for their parents. Kara (Eliza Scanlen), the smallest among children come up with the biggest surprise. At first, it seems like a problem with the kids, and the old woman seems to be just having those old-age diseases. But it soon seems that everyone there are aging rapidly, like one year in every thirty minutes. They try to get out of there, but ends up having blackouts and waking up where they had started. Almost everyone out there seems to have a medical condition out there. When they have injuries, they quickly heals. The dog out there also dies.

What more would happen in a situation from where there might be no escape? :: Jarin Carmichael (Ken Leung) and Patricia Carmichael (Nikki Amuka-Bird) are from the medical field, but they don’t seem to have any clue about what has been happening. Brendan (Aaron Pierre), a famous rapper is also there, but it seems that he has been there for longer than any of them, and has no clue about what is happening around there. Prisca is revealed to have cancer in her stomach, which also grows very quickly, and it has to be taken out. Charles (Rufus Sewell), a surgeon with schizophrenia is the only person who seems to be qualified enough to save her, but is not in a state which will prove to be helpful to anyone. His wife and Kara’s mother Chrystal (Abbey Lee) has low calcium level and is continuously suffering as she gets older. They think about swimming all the way around the beach, but that seems to be a really difficult task, and a person had already died while swimming.
Climbing the steep hills also seems to be a difficult task, as they are not really the healthy adults required at the stage. Now, is there a way out before all of them will be dying soon enough?

The defence of Old :: M Night Shyamalan always has something different for us, and he seems to choose from such topics or materials which possess such a scope. This seems like a divergent thriller for sure, and has some interesting moments in the form of not just an adventure and struggle for survival, but also as a distant science fiction. As it nicely moves towards what awaits us, we are surely engaged early. The strange incidents at the beach also keeps us guessing, and the characters from different backgrounds nicely adds to the same. Along with the same, the scenery is nothing less than enchanting, and it surely feels like that unexplored beach which we really needs to explore, even if it means that we are all going to get older quickly and die around there. Well, all of those rich celebrities having crores which they need to somewhere might really want to check out this place – after all, they escape nicely from India whenever there is a problem here. In the current situation, being a big film star, cricketer, politician or political businessman is necessary to survive around here, unless you are a government-salaried employee.

Positives and negatives :: The execution cannot be considered as that perfect, as there seems to be some problem with how it has been edited, and regarding how a few things seems to be intentionally left out, but as we see the aging process done so well, there is a lot of smartness involved. Some dialogues also seem to be strange, and a few male characters seem rather unnecessary in comparison to the female characters who come up with something to note throughout the movie’s run. There could have also been something special added around here, as it is a movie set on a strange beach. But none of these seem to matter when we look at the entertainment level of the flick. The best performers here are the children jumping to their teenage – Thomasin McKenzie, Alex Wolff and Eliza Scanlen are the ones we look out for, as they deal with their too quick a jump. Vicky Krieps and Gael Garcia Bernal makes a good couple around here too. Abbey Lee’s work is also notable, as she plays one character who has always been in trouble. In the end, the movie seems to come up with the message that we don’t really have that much time as we think in our lives, and it is always best to do what we need to do as early as possible – instead of gaining regret late.

How it finishes :: M Night Shyamalan seems to be the right kind of director who comes up with the movies which feels so beautifully strange – the last one I remember is The Visit, a movie which remained divergently different in its own way and style. We also remember how well he managed to finish with the two movies of one interesting series, Split and Glass, with some special qualities. This one is based on Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy, which he received as a gift for the Father’s Day a few years ago. Even though most of us do not know that much about the original work, we can be sure that he has managed to recreate the world in his way, as he has done in many other films. Well, if Shyamalan would do a movie on Corona virus pandemic, that would be very special, unlike any other film on the same topic. When we consider the same, we know that this movie surely has something special from his imagination, adding to the original material – as we won’t be reading that one, for now we will just have to think it is so, and enjoy the very interesting adventure here.

Release date: 23rd July 2021
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: M Night Shyamalan
Starring: Vicky Krieps, Gael Garcia Bernal, Abbey Lee, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, Emun Elliott, Alejandra Useche, M Night Shyamalan

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Amazing Spider-Man II

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: How can they release the movie on a Thursday? That too a Spider-Man movie which releases in the United States on Friday?

Vampire Bat: Because it is International Worker’s Day and Spider-Man is part of the working class, not the rich bourgeois class like Batman or Iron Man and neither is he an alien like He-Man, Superman or Thor. You remember he used to deliver pizza on an awesome moped when he was Tobey Maguire with Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. And he is amazing as you can guess from the title.

Vampire Owl: So he thinks that he is amazing. I wonder how much? Does that make the movie automatically amazing? And that former trilogy of Spider-Man, it was not amazing enough?

Vampire Bat: He should think that he is more amazing than most of the other amazing superheroes, just like my dead cat, until it chose to go Neo and play Matrix in front of a Tata Safari. Let’s check for that “amazing” thingy right now, and make sure that he is not just a vain hybrid like many others. So we are having onion uthappam today?

Vampire Owl: That would call for lunch before or after movie?

Vampire Bat: Now, that is a clearly amazing question, as far as there is no spider in the lunch.

[Wing-rides to the multiplex].

What is it about? :: Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is trying to balance his life as both himself and Spider-Man as he tries to save the world, spend time with his girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) along with searching for the secret behind the death of his parents. As our hero keeps reminding himself of the promise he made to Gwen’s father, he keeps breaking up with her, sometimes she herself breaking up with him as he keeps talking about what her father said. Peter’s childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to the city to see his dying father Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) who tells him that the disease is hereditary and he has been struggling to extend his life. As Harry takes over as the new CEO of his father’s business, OsCorp, he keeps trying to find a way to cure his disease. He finds that Spider-Man’s blood may give him a chance as he can heal himself pretty fast. He asks Peter to help him finding Spider-Man to which he says that he will try, but later shows up as Spider-Man to say no as he was unsure of what the results would be. Meanwhile Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), an employee of OsCorp falls into a tank of genetically modified electric eels making him a walking electric generator, but is captured by Spider-Man as he creates chaos in the city. It seems that both Harry and Max now has one spider enemy – and the battle begins.

The defence of The Amazing Spider-Man II :: The movie has Spider-Man on a mission to save the city as well as his love life. He does that in style here. The shots of Spider-Man swinging around the city and then his battle with Electro are breath-taking not just for the sequences, but also for the environment. The camera work is stunning and everything looks so awesome in 3D or truly amazing to fit the title. There is that scene when Electro uses his special power of electricity on everything around him, and Spider-Man goes on to make sure that everyone around remains safe by flying through the air and shooting webs all around him. There is also that battle against the fully powered Electro who uses his power in such a destructive manner that Spider-Man’s moves looks so impressive as the world of electricity around him which seems to recreate its own beauty beyond destruction on the screen in 3D. How often do you see such beautiful devastation and a battle which is so much electrifying not just in the sequence, but also visually? Where else can you get a superhero so selfless and gives so much hope unlike some of the others who seems to get the viewers further into darkness and the absence of hope?

Claws of flaw :: Despite being the best Spider-Man ever, the movie also deals with the usual stereotypes, as the villain falls into genetically mutated trouble yet again, and transforms into something special from the nobody that he used to be. He often reminds one of Megamind‘s Tighten with his desire to be noticed. He is too much of a Mr. Nobody in the beginning, a lot more than what can be taken. His powers are rather too much, and his evil side is a little half-baked. The Green Goblin gets very less screen time too, an Harry Osborn doesn’t shine and only leaves us with potential to be awesome in the sequel. OsCorp becomes more of the opposite of the Stark Industries here. The final scene also seems to have been forced for the inception of Mary Jane Watson into the franchise. The plot’s other side which involves Peter’s dead parents are also a little over-used. I won’t say that this affects the movie much, and the negative reviews only reflect the critics’ horrible inability to enjoy this movie, and one can never attribute it as the flaw of this movie. How can someone see the special effects and 3D of this movie and give a positive review with them only? The negative reviews are rather a case of shame.

Performers of the soul :: Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man and Peter Parker does a fantastic role in the multiple personalities, and let nobody fool you about this superhero’s two-sided coin of a world. I would say that no other superhero’s alter ego is that powerful as Spider-Man can claim. Nobody has this much conflicts in the real life, which should be why heroes like Iron Man can live without a secret identity, and money makes it easy for him and Batman. This is where someone like Andrew Garfield does so well to suit, and forms a nice pair with Emma Stone who is there stronger than in the first movie. She becomes Spidey’s first true love like nobody can deny it. She has quite much to do, and powerfully contributes in saving the day as well as the movie. I would have preferred her with black or brown hair, but Gwen was supposed to have the golden one. Jamie Foxx comes up in different avatars, as he transforms from a Spidey fan to an attention seeking villain who wishes to get rid of his competition on television. Dane DeHaan is no James Franco, but he has given us hope of coming up as the arch-nemesis of this Spidey, like Jim Moriarty is to Sherlock Holmes and Joker is to Batman. He might not get that many claps, but gives us enough hope to bring a lot in a possible sequel – for this one is evil, and evil mind has just began to work.

Soul exploration :: Among all the superheroes, Spider-Man has been the most human, despite Iron Man and Batman claiming to have no real superpowers except for the help of superior scientific equipment and remaining closer to humanity. But what does Spider-Man give us? He was that superhero who gave us the best line to quote from a superhero movie not bothering the situation – “With great power. comes great responsibility”. There is no denying that Batman as the Dark Knight took off with so much style, and even his villains, Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson) and Joker (Heath Ledger) made that powerful impact that no other super-villains could make. But there is something about Spidey, and it is that his villains have always remained powerful than him, and even with his superpowers, he is at disadvantage, and being the younger of the group, he also has to deal with more troubles, as he struggles to make his living. There is no other superhero who has his alter ego in that much troubles as he would have as a superhero. Yet, his battles are more interesting to watch than that of any other superhero, and there is the success of Marvel. He is the common man’s superhero. Yes, the verdict is that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is amazing, no matter how fan-boys will try to degrade it.

How it finishes :: As Peter Parker says “Everyday I wake up knowing that no matter how many lives I protect, no matter how many people call me a hero, someone even more powerful could change everything”. But there is always another side to it, and for that, there is the graduation speech of Gwen Stacy. But some critics are still caught in the web of The Dark Knight, and refuses to come out. No disrespect to The Dark Knight, but it is a shame to think that it is the only great superhero movie, and there comes the fan-boys with an extra-terrestrial ability to overrate that franchise. It is high time they step out of it, or stupid Bollywood superhero movies like Krrish 3 will copy from Hollywood and make some complete retarded stuff, pay for positive reviews and create new record at the box-office. It is worthless to ask, but one has to wonder how someone can like Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 3 more than this one? That was proved again with the positive reviews for one of the dumbest movies of all time, Noah. Or may be they have a case of arachnophobia, but I would give them the advice to take this movie as something which can take that fear out of them, use this to bring some love for the creatures, at least the smaller ones with no venom. Now, if it will overtake Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier as the highest grossing movie of the year is a question worth asking.

Release date: 1st May 2014 (India); 2nd May 2014 (US)
Running time: 142 minutes
Directed by: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Marton Csokas, Louis Cancelmi, Max Charles, Chris Cooper, B. J. Novak, Denis Leary